Always Forever Thanks JK Rowling
by Emma Rose Healy
Summary: With the end of an era, I look back upon Harry Potter, and the effect it had on my life. Don't expect a story, it's just something I had to write for myself. Closure lol.


It's been almost a decade, which to me feels like a lifetime. A lifetime that anything previous couldn't compare to. Although the books were around quite sometime before that, my adventure began nearly ten years ago, when I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone for our friends in the UK). I was twelve years old and beaming when it was over. I was captivated by the world that I knew nothing about prior to seeing the movie. I think my life actually started that day. And so, for the next few years after, (seeing Chamber of Secrets in between that time) still being completely oblivious to the books, I held Harry dearly in my heart.

There were a few things during that time that may have led me a stray of the magic, but then on that fateful day, June 4th 2004, I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. A permanent spell was cast upon my heart. The only word I could use to describe that night, is magical. It was the magical feeling I got during the movie, and after it was over, and several days later. My whole entire world changed. I changed. That was the night I had fallen in love for the first time. But my love for JK Rowling's world had soon evolved into an addiction. I was hooked, and I wanted more. This time, the movies weren't enough. I craved the books, I needed to know what had happened next, and that is when I became Emma Rose Healy.

I remember the first HP book that I bought was Azkaban (soft copy), which will always be my favorite. I'd purchased it in secret because I too had to keep the magical part of my life concealed, just like Harry. The other books soon followed, then the fan fiction of course...Everything in my world was magic, even if I just chose to see it that way. The next two years were the sweetest and purest of my life, and I can't help but think it was solely because of Harry Potter. Some nights, I'd actually go outside and pretend I was looking for him.

The movie I had to have been the most anxious about was Goblet of Fire, because this time I knew what would happen and what to expect. This was the first time I could actually see the book coming to life. The movie was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Even better than I expected. And so was Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows. Maybe my perception of the films vs. the books might have been altered because I had seen the first three movies before I had read the books. Seeing made the magic real.

Fast forward to the present. When your life has been a constant wave full of little ups and big downs, it was nice to have something to depend on and to me that was Harry Potter. So on the night Harry takes his final adventure on the big screen, I decided to write this, and in doing so I've relived what have been the most magical and overwhelming years of my life. Even though I am ten years older, with so much happening to me in that time, my feelings for Harry Potter were still the same. That is one part of my "extended childhood" that I have held on to very strongly. And I must admit, it was hard for me when I saw it all coming to an end with Deathly Hallows. I wouldn't have the anticipation for the newest book or movie that I've always had, and that was so unfamiliar. I guess when you get so used to something and it's gone, it's hard to adjust. But in writing this, I found that the sadness I had felt these past few weeks is slowly starting to fade. I finally feel like I'm ready to say good bye. But then again, it's not really good bye. The things we love never really leave us do they? Besides, I read this quote online...

"_If you love something_, _let it go_. If it comes back to you, its yours forever. If it doesn't, then it was never meant to be."

So Harry, who will always be my first love, until we meet again someday ( which will be soon, I'm planning a trip to Universal, lol). I let you go, and with that I let my childhood go too. And to JK Rowling, thank you. Although I've said this word so many times already, thank you for filling my life with _magic_. Thank you for all the times I got to shut my eyes and imagine I was at Hogwarts. Thank you for all the times I pretended that my backyard was the Forbidden Forest. Thank you for helping me escape, or should I say change reality. And thank you for giving me the greatest adventure anyone could ever ask for. It's been one hell of a ride.

Love

E.R.H.

_It's time for this Wendy to let her Peter go, and grow up...and who knows, someday she might find her way back to Neverland...but that story has yet to be written..._

**Author's Note: Someone asked me why Prisoner of Azkaban was my favorite. How much time do you have...lol...well one of the reasons is because I think Harry's character really came to life in that book. I just fell in love with who he had become. But I would have to say the main reason that I love that one the most is because it sparked my obession with the Marauders. **


End file.
